Hungary holding referendum on refugee resettlement

CCTV News

Hungary is holding a referendum on Sunday on the resettlement of refugees. Prime Minister Viktor Orban has taken a hard-line stance to the refugee crisis and wants people to reject the European Union’s plan to relocate 160,000 refugees across the union.

Hungary holding referendum on refugee resettlement

Hungary is holding a referendum on Sunday on the resettlement of refugees. Prime Minister Viktor Orban has taken a hard-line stance to the refugee crisis and wants people to reject the European Union's plan to relocate 160,000 refugees across the union. CCTV's Kate Parkinson reports from the Hungary-Serbia border.

Hungary’s response to the refugee crisis was to build a huge border fence. Now only a handful of people are allowed into the country each day.

Having been stranded in Serbia for months, those allowed in are happy to be moving forward on their journey.

But they may find that the life is not that good for refugees in Hungary very few are granted asylum. It’s even worse for those who try to break through the fence.

Thousands of police and soldiers have been deployed to guard the frontier. These men are part of a local group of field police they are hunting through the border area, looking for people who’ve crossed into Hungary illegally. Anyone caught within 8km of the border is immediately kicked out of the country.

In Serbia, we met a man who tells me he tried to sneak across a few weeks ago. He didn’t want to show his face, or tell us his real name.

“The police caught us and even though we put up hands they gave an order to the dogs – they said ‘catch’. And the dogs attacked my friend, they bit his leg. And the police hit him in his face,” he said.

Refugee rights groups said stories like this are common, and have accused the Hungarian government of having a ‘zero refugee’ strategy.